Re: Well, she is rescued

[amahdavi@husc.harvard.edu (Andisheh Mahdavi)]

>Andisheh Mahdavi <amahdavi@husc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>>    I feel like a fool, wanting to think one thing of the song when
>>clearly she thinks another. Thus to my ears all of the Ninth Wave is
>>spoiled, because the drama's ending shapes the whole cycle for me. 

jmitchel@wheaton.edu (James Ryan Mitchell) responded:
>       ...........  As such, Kate's intended meaning is one possible
>understanding of TNW.  As the artist's, it is a useful tool to apply to the
>project of understanding the work, but when there is so much ambiguity at
>hand, it can hardly be considered the definitive word on the matter.  

I agree with you, so let me restate my point.

It is obvious that the ending of the Ninth Wave has been left open to
interpretation; that is why there is some disagreement. Now, there are two
possibilities: either it was left ambiguous on purpose, or it wasn't at
all meant to be ambiguous, and Kate made a mistake. But we know, from
Kate's interview, that she didn't mean to leave it open to interpretation.
I quote her: "that's really meant to be the rescue of the whole
situation." She had a definite ending in mind. She clearly wasn't
successful in making it definite to her audience.

How many other times has Kate made careless mistakes? I need only mention
the confusion about whether she wanted to swap places with God on "Running
up That Hill" (which, as she clearly stated in an interview, she had no
intention whatsoever of leaving ambiguous); or the fact that she didn't
know what the Buddhist Mantra she was using in TKI meant.

In this instance, too, Kate was careless, because she had a clear idea of
how the Ninth Wave cycle should end, but she wasn't able to get it across
clearly--as we have observed there is disagreement about it. This is the
first reason I feel like a fool---because I am a fan of a careless artist. 
The second reason, of course, is that she made what I feel is the wrong
choice in her conception of the Ninth Wave.

Thus I don't say that her interpretation of her own music is the
"definitive word"; I am only sad about the choice she made in envisioning
the whole thing. Luckily, as you say, works of art have a life of their
own, and can be enjoyed independently of their creator, or their creator's
opinions.

Andi